Electric Flora
by Flax Golden Tales
Summary: BriarTris oneshots. There aren't enough of those, plus, single oneshots don't get enough reviews. So I'm writing a BriarTris oneshot every other day, about. Chapter 3 You Caught Me: When Tris collapses, who's there to catch her? None other than Briar.
1. How Much Turmoil Lip Balm Really Can Cau

**Author's Note: **Hey hey! So...third fanfiction is here. I really don't know if I support Briar/Sandry or Briar/Tris, but this idea just came to me when my sister came to me looking to borrow some lip balm, and Briar/Tris seemed to go best with the plotline. Anyway, enjoy! Just a OneShot, by the way, but I might continue it, depending on how much you guys like it. But the only way I will know if you guys like it is _if you review it! _So review.

**Disclaimer: **If I owned Tamora Pierce books, I would've put in more fluff.

How Much Turmoil Lip Balm Can Really Cause

Briar carefully tended his little tree, clipping off the buds with precision and tenderness. A sharp rap on the door came. "Come in," he called. His back turned to the door, he heard the rustle of skirts as somebody came up behind him. Briar snipped off the last bud, to the shakkan's protest, and carefully placed his scissors on the windowsill, then turned around.

A flashing pair of grey eyes like a beginning storm met his springy green ones and stunned him. "Woah, Coppercurls," he gaped, and stepped back against the window. "Why are you angry?"

Tris's pale eyebrows shot up. "What're you talking about? I'm not angry at all. I just came here to borrow some lip balm. I ran out, and my lips are dry and cracked after standing out on the tower at noon with Niko." She grimaced at the thought.

Briar shrugged. "I keep forgetting that your eyes always look like that."

"Like what?" She set her mouth in a warning line and folded her arms over her chest. Briar had definitely not overlooked her developing body, and it showed in the blatant stare he gave now to her breasts. Tris scowled at him. "Okay, _now_ I'm mad. Stop staring at my chest and answer the question," she snapped.

He absently looked back at her and grinned, showing his straight white teeth. Tris's heart skipped a beat, and she thought, _He really needs to stop doing that_. "Your eyes look like a storm," Briar informed her frankly. "Like––like when you showed me on the wall, how the clouds form a storm. Like that."

She stared at him in surprise. "I didn't know you remembered that. It was so long ago–– like right when we came to Winding Circle. Well, your eyes look like...like, well, a briar," she grinned at him. "Remember when you showed me the briars you planted around your personal garden right at the beginning of springtime?"

He beamed, "Of course I do." They smiled at each other for awhile.

Finally, Tris cleared her throat and said, "Enough of the sentiments. So, can I borrow your lip balm?"

He came closer to her till Tris could estimate how long his curled eyelashes were. "You do know that if you use my lip balm, it would be like we had kissed?" She was about to retort back when he pressed his lips against hers.

It seemed as if several sunlit days passed (**Author's Note: **Credit to J.K. Rowling for that phrase––hope it's okay that I used it) while their lips stayed connected. Tris couldn't resist, she felt like lightning was crackling on her lips while cool leaves soothed the electricity. She wound her arms around his neck and his embraced her waist while another few more bright hours came and went. Finally, they broke apart.

There was a silence while they stared at each other. "Did we just––" Tris started, voice hoarse.

"Yeah," Briar interrupted. "By the way, your lips are _not_ dry and cracked at all. They must be some of the softest lips I've ever kissed in my life." He grinned at her flirtily, making her heart dance again, and left the room, leaving Tris in a turmoil.

"I really do wish he didn't do that," she muttered to herself. A wind rustled through the window and made the shakkan tree's branches dance, as if in agreement.

-

**Author's Note: **Woo! So? Should I continue or not? Please review.


	2. Rejection! cackles

1**Author's Note: **Hey guys! So, this is the second installment of Electric Flora Yes, before, this was a OneShot by the name of How Much Turmoil Lip Balm Can Really Cause. But I took the advice of Nutz Nina and decided to make this into a series of OneShots. This way, I hope I will get more reviews! -hint hint-

Well, this came to me in a sudden inspiration. I have many ideas for OneShots, but this appealed to me most. I took the liberty of naming this one: Rejection! -cackles- No, seriously. _Including_ the cackling part. xD

By the way, thank you so much to my reviewers! Please read and review. Enjoy!

**Disclaimer: **Pfft, you think I own Tamora Pierce? I wish.

Rejection! -cackles-

Briar Moss was not the kind of guy who enjoyed to be abandoned in bed by a very pretty lady.

He watched Athara quickly tie up her lacy pink corset with skill and practice. "Wait, what do you mean, you 'have to go?'" he asked incredulously, as her farewell dawned on him. "But–"

She gave him a sweet smile and fluttered her eyelashes over her flinty grey eyes (_Not nearly as pretty as Tris's eyes, _he had thought earlier, then scolded himself for thinking such thoughts about his foster-sister). "I'm so sorry, Briar. It's just...I have other, er, appointments. Save me a dance tomorrow at the ball, will you?" Athara turned sideways, giving Briar a very, shall we say, _interesting_ view, and pouted with pink glossed lips. Briar almost rolled his eyes at her typical basic flirting tactics.

"Of course, Lady Athara, but–" She had already put on her flouncy pink dress and was now arranging her shining gold hair.

Again, she cut him off. "I really must run. It was so fun–_playing_ with you, Briar." Athara blew a kiss at him and sped out of his room.

Briar sat on his bed and was silent in thought. "I feel like I've been blown off," he remarked to the empty room.

"Briar! Who was that _lady_–" Tris said it like an insult from outside in the hallway, "–you snuck in? She just walked out and called me _maid!_ You really should get better taste." She walked into his room, grey eyes flashing, and noticed his bare chest. Other than most girls, instead of blushing and bowing herself out, she grinned. "Canoodling again? She walked out on you, didn't she? Usually, they stay so long that you have to usher them out and break their hearts." Tris leaned against the doorframe, with her arms folded and that grin still pasted foolishly on her face. "Oh, I take back what I said earlier. That girl's got sass for blowing you off. Serves you right, your head was getting too big anyway." She cackled.

"Don't rub it in," Briar grumbled. It's not like you've ever been walked out on before. You don't know how it feels." He put on breeches over his loincloth and rubbed his eyes tiredly.

"No, but then again, I never sneak boys into my room at night. I have the sense to do tomfoolery elsewhere so that my foster-siblings don't catch me," Tris retorted. She was not to be subdued. "_Rejection!_" She cackled again and danced in his face. "Rejection, rejection, rejection!"

Seeing her face so close to his own, Briar brightened considerably. Before she could move back, he crashed his lips against Tris's.

Later, when he was sorting out his confused feelings, he decided on one thing: Tris was better at kissing than he thought she would be. She was stiff with surprise for a second, then clasped his neck with surprising emotion and leaned against his bare chest. Briar was surprised how small she felt in his arms before they separated.

Her head still laid against his warm body, Tris asked quietly, "Are you going to walk out on me now just to teach me?"

Briar, voice a little bit rough, replied simply, "Never."

-

"Briar! Will you give me that dance you promised?" Athara batted her long, curly eyelashes at him and curtsied, showing him more leg than was proper.

Tris, sitting next to him, glared at Athara. She hated being ignored like this, not to mention the fact that it bugged her when the lady flirted with Briar. Suddenly, Tris felt something warm and comforting on her knee as Briar silently clasped it and squeezed it consolingly.

He stood up and bowed. Today at the ball, he was wearing a green tunic over dark green breeches and simple black boots. It was nothing special, yet it allowed Tris to silently admire how his small, lithe muscles moved smoothly from within the tunic...how his hair drooped slightly over his bright green eyes...how he stood with strong posture... "I'm sorry, milady," Briar's formal voice brought Tris out of her daydreaming, "but I cannot give you that dance. I hope you will forgive me for bringing your hopes up."

Athara glowered at Tris as if it were fault (_Which it sort of is, _the girl mused) and looked away when the mage stared right back with stormy grey eyes. The lady elegantly walked away angrily with a soft '_hmph!_'

Tris grinned at Briar as he sat back down. "_Rejection!_" she whispered to him, making both of them cackle.

-

**Author's Note: **Wee! So, whatcha think? A little OOC maybe? I dunno. Please review and tell me what _you_ think! Yes, you!


	3. You Caught Me

1**Author's Note: **Wow, I have never updated so often on a story _ever_ before! I guess it's because of all your encouraging reviews. Thank you so much! I LOVE YOU GUYS. Especially hollybridgetpeppermint, because she reminded me to turn the rating up to T for the rather mature suggestions in my last chapter. Thank you so much, I hope you see this, hollybridgetpeppermint!

Well, I am currently reading _the Will of the Empress_. I am almost done. I am sure most of you avid Tamora Pierce readers have read this book. It has entirely enforced my feeling that Tris and Briar should be together. Anyways, when I was reading the scene where Tris tells Daja about her two attempts at romance. I picked the one where she gets dumped with honey, and had Briar come into the scene. Yes, I know that couldn't have happened, but then again that's why this is called fanfiction. Enjoy! If you give me reviews, I'll give you chocolate!

**Disclaimer: **Fanfiction. Break it down. Fan. Fiction. Key word: _fan_. Meaning I am merely a fan of Tamora Pierce, nothing more than that. Except maybe obsessed.

You Caught Me

Tris carefully arranged a sheer veil over her braids––she wanted to hide the fact that they were fizzing tiny lightning bolts from excitement. She had chosen to wear a pink overgown with rather large bell rose-colored sleeves. Well, they were rather large to _her_ standards. The gown had stayed crinkled up in the back of her wardrobe (but immediately straightened as if just ironed at a single shake, _S_andry's doing, of course), because, frankly, Tris _never_ wore pink, and _never_ wore puffy sleeves.

But this was an exception.

Tris nervously slipped down stairs with surprisingly nimble (and slippered with flat pink shoes that looked almost new) feet. _Avoiding Niko will be some trouble, _Tris mused as she stood against the wall next to her teacher's open door, _but maybe if I just..._

She gently and softly called a breeze wandering out of his open window, and lured it through the window. It easily pushed the door closed in an inconspicuous fashion. Tris quickly passed by and through the door, keeping the breezes away from her so that it didn't ruin her hair. _Three years ago, _Tris thought with amusement, _if somebody had told me that I would one day_ _turn the breezes away from me just to keep my hair in safety, I would've immediately put them in an insane asylum._ It was a strange feeling. She had never before kept the wind _away_ from her, only embraced them.

In no time, she was in the garden. _Briar must be somewhere in here_ _in the garden...as usual, _Tris decided, thinking dreamily about his green eyes for a second before blocking her tie with him rather wistfully. She didn't want him to know what she was doing––but she still didn't like blocking her connection with him. _It's not that I _like_ him or anything. It's just that he's my brother. My...my _saati.

Bushes lined every rubble-strewn walkway, with different flowers blooming like young noblewomen with their faces turned up to the sun. Occasionally, a slim spring green tendril lightly placed itself on her arm, sensing the small amount of Briar's magic intertwined with her own. She would shoo it away and keep walking, heading for her destination: the white rose-infested platform in the heart of the garden.

There, standing in the middle of the platform, in the middle of the garden, he stood, his smile wide and his brown eyes––was that a glimmer of contempt and mischief in them? _No, it can't be, _she assured herself.

Silently, Tris climbed the steps up to the boy, trying not to breath too hard and show how easily she tired when it came to stairs. She finally reached the top and attempted to give him a sweet smile. "Hi, Jared," she greeted him breathlessly.

He grinned at her, flashing his white teeth. "Hey Tris," he said casually, then leaned forward, his pink lips puckered slightly.

_Woah, sort of fast, huh? _Tris asked herself, but closed her eyes and waited anyway. Instead of finding his mouth on her own, she heard Jared call nonchalantly, "Get the fattie, guys!"

A thick substance was dumped over her. Tris opened her eyes and found her hands and the rest of her plump body covered in honey. Jared and several other boys laughed and pointed at her, as if––_as if I were a tortured animal on display_, she thought furiously. "Even all _that_ honey wouldn't fill you, would it, fattie?" Jared howled with laughter, as did his pals that stood ringed loosely around him like noblemen before their king. "You actually believe you could have _me? _You're not very smart, are you, tubby?"

Tears streamed slowly through the honey on Tris's face. _Tricked, _Tris thought numbly,_ I was tricked. He didn't want me._ She clenched her fists angrily, and her braids fizzed with medium sized lightning bolts––this time out of anger, not excitement. She felt a strangled sob wrench itself from her throat.

When the teenage boys only laughed at her tears, Tris cried, "You will leave me alone!" Rain poured down from the suddenly grey sky in sheets so that you could barely see anybody a foot in front of you. The honey slowly dripped off, leaving her gown to soak in the storm. Tris suddenly wished that she hadn't worn the ridiculous dress with it's uncomfortable puff sleeves.

_"_She's making it rain!" one of Jared's cronies yelled. "Let's get outta here!" Jared and the other boys ran from the platform, leaving her to stand alone in the pouring rain. Once they were gone, Tris let the tears run freely, and let the cries escape her mouth. I can't believe I fell for him, she thought over and over again. I can't believe it, I can't believe it. How could I've been so stupid? Heart mangled with pain and humiliation, Tris's knees grew weak and gave way. She collapsed––collapsed into strong arms.

Tris could just make out Briar's green eyes looking kindly upon her, and his warm arms circled around her. "You caught me," she croaked. "You caught me...you caught me when I fell."

"What great observations, Coppercurls," Briar joked, but his eyes were soft. "What happened to you?"

Tears streaming down throughout the whole time, Tris told him everything. "I used to read––well, still do read––those romance books," she confided with him, pained heart making her mind go static. If she had not been so hurt, she never would've told him this. "Whenever I read them, I always yearned for one of those fairy tale loves. I guess that won't happen, ever."

"Who says?" Briar asked, a funny look in his eyes that Tris couldn't discern.

"I say," Tris replied forcefully, leaning against his damp chest, his arms still around her. She enjoyed his embrace, and how he smelled sweetly of damp moss and freshly turned earth. "And Jared says."

"Jared's a bleater, don't listen to him," Briar murmured softly to her. "And you...well, you tend to know what's best for everybody but yourself. Of course you'll get a fairy tale love. I know you will."

"How do you know, Oh Clever One?" Tris smiled sleepily.

Briar took a deep breath. "Because...Because, I––I think I love you, Tris." He waited, hugging Tris closer, as if she would drift away at the thought of his love. "Tris? Tris!" He turned her to him.

Tris had fallen asleep.

Briar smiled at her face, which was angelic with sleep. "Maybe some other day, Tris." He kissed her forehead and carried her home.

-

**Author's Note: **-whoops- Yay! I hope you liked it. What do you think? Too angsty maybe? Well, review, review!


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